The magical Mátra Wine Region
The Mátra wine region was love at first sight: excellent wineries, excellent wines, exciting programs and great excursions - everything was present for the perfect relaxation.
But let's start at the beginning! I have never been to the Mátra wine region before, so I was really looking forward to this trip. Being a wine lover, it was no question that I would stay at a winery. We chose the Dominium Winery for several reasons: it is in a modern and beautiful location, and the Mátravasút - that red, fairy-tale little forest railway - stops right in front of it, and in addition to all this, it offers excellent, quality wines, which are accompanied by an exciting, interactive wine tasting, which presents the centuries-old history of Farkasmályi Cellars,where we can get to know them better and gain insight into the secrets of organic winemaking.
Farkasmály cellar row
We started the wine tasting in the winery building, then walked through the vineyards to the cellar line.
The history of the Farkasmályi Cellars, i.e. the cellar system at the foot of Sár-mountain, connected by corridors, goes back more than 300 years. Farkasmály district of Gyöngyös was the former entertainment district of the city and had its heyday in the 1930s.
During the time of socialism, it was producing mostly for Soviet export, and about one million liters of wine were stored here. However, the regime change radically changed the winemaking habits and the cellar line began to decline, there was no longer a need to store such a large quantity, i.e. the capacity of the largest hand-hewn cellar in Central and Eastern Europe.
The size of the cellar and the tanks in it is amazing, and the whole atmosphere is like a time travel. After visitng that, we immediately flew back to the present, because when we returned to the winery, we also saw the modern technology area and the barrel aging cellar.
Farkasmály Borudvar The event called Farkasmály Borudvar will be held here for the first time this year, in August, with stands of excellent local wineries, jazz, pop and rock concerts, and tasty, special dishes - such as for me amazing-sounding donkey ham brownie - will await the wine lovers who visit here. Of course, burgers and sandwiches are also available for those who like traditional food! I'm waiting for your comments about who would try the donkey ham brownie!
On this festival, you can also visit the Farkasmály cellars, and of course the small train will also run, so the location is easily accessible from Gyöngyös.
Of course, in addition to wine tasting, many other interesting programs are offered here, and we set off to explore the area the next day.
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Lookout from Sástó
The Sástó Lookout is located in an idyllic setting: to reach it, we start on a nature trail leading to a beautiful pond, and then reach it by crossing a cozy wooden bridge.
The lake presented a fairytale sight, and it was also full of ducks, some of which were so brave that they ate the "duck treats" from our hands.
The observation deck sticks out a little from this fairy-tale environment, because it was created from an unused steel drilling rig, it is 53 meters high, and a spiral staircase of 256 steps leads to the top - which is the fourth level. On the first floor, there are some nice statues showing the birds of the area, those with fear of hights should at least try to go up there!
Jokes aside, many people actually turned back, because it's really scary to walk up the narrow interior of this drilling rig, so that you can practically see all the way down. But it's worth it, the view from the upper level is amazing. From here we can admire the Mátra mountain ranges!
Adult admission to the observation deck is HUF 600.
Plus info that one of the shops at the entrance sells chewing gum and popsicles, my childhood favorites, which I rarely see anywhere else anyway, so I bought some.
Gyöngyös A beautiful town, the main square is beautiful, decorated with several special fountains. My favorite was the White Wolf fountain - as I found out, a wolf can be seen in the city's coat of arms, so that's probably why this statue was brought here. But there are also three other magical fountains in the square, I leave it to you to discover them, let it be a surprise!
The other unmissable sight is the St. Bartholomew's Church, it's also fabulous from the inside, and we can also go up to the church tower - thanks to the renovation, older people can even go up with the elevator - from which we can see an unparalleled view of the whole city, the main square, the abandoned synagogue, and virtually every landmark. In addition, we met a very nice man in the church who told us the history of the place.
Nagyréde Goat Farm
The farm is located in a meadow at the southern foot of the Mátra Mountains, next to a forest and a fishing lake. This small goat farm was also a great experience for me, because I love goats, it's good to watch them bleat and run around, I think they are just simply so cute. They were very curious, several people came to the fence and they even let their heads be petted.
I must say that I prefer to buy cheese in a place like this than in a supermarket, because I see that the animals are well kept - and of course the cheese is much tastier than its store counterparts.
I recommend this program to animal lovers and children, not just cheese lovers.
I hope zou will also enjoy your trip to Mátra, and I was able to help you plan your holiday!
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